7 Nutsløpet

The weekend started with climbing outside for the very first time here in Norway. It was amazingly cool! I went with a friend who is an experienced climber, and had a fun time. The same guy asked me if I were up for 7 Nutsløpet on Sunday… I´ve only heard about this before, but decided to give it a try. Basically it is an off-road run where we climb (or should run up) 7 small mountains. It is 14km long, and has a total of 900 altitude meters to ascend. It is arranged by Den Norske Turistforeningen www.turistforeningen.no, who also arrange 7 Nutsturen, which has the same route, but is more of a hike.

Well, just before 8am Sunday morning we got our BIB´s, and started to get ready. I had no idea whatsoever to expect, I did not know the route at all, but have been on one of the tops; Dalsnuten many times before. I´ve even tried to run up a few times and know very well it is a steep climb… so I put on my heart-monitor to keep an eye on my pulse, didn´t want to collapse either ;)

8:45 sharp we started and it immediately went upwards. I don´t have off-road shoes, so I thought normal running shoes would be OK… not exactly, the minutes we descended the very first hill I slipped on a wet rock and twisted my ankle, BUMMER! I sat down for what felt like an extremely long time, and checked for swelling and warm parts. Maybe it was the adrenaline, or the fact I had a BIB on my chest… but I decided to continue, just a bit more careful downhill from now. And wohoooo I am glad for that! I just loved this run! Super duper hard, up and down hills, through small forests, over swamps,and the delicious reward when reaching a “summit” where you met super-nice people clipping a new clip in your BIB, while you enjoyed the view – just fantastic J

Borrowed from www.dntfjellsport.no

After finishing the 5^th “summit” I started to cramp in my calves. I especially felt it when jumping up on rocks and slowly running downhill, I tried my best to ignore it and stretched now and then. When I finally ran, or limped the last 200m I could see the muscles curling back there, ohhh it hurt sooo bad L But… it didn´t matter at all – I finished my first trail run on 2:34 ish, and am extremely happy with that. I know I´ll come back to these tracks to train and run some more, only with proper shoes J

If you are in the area, come join me next year!

J

The plan ahead

I´ve finally decided the next step, the next huge step towards my biggest dream... I am going to Nepal! Initially my plan was to wait until next year, and climb Mont Blanc this year, but things changed, and 24th October I´ll be in my way. It is very hard to believe... I´ve said to myself and people around me if I ever go there, to see the magical Himalayas I´ll never come back home... so I am very excited on my feelings, how will it be to see it all, to meet the culture and people and of course how will it be to climb in this mountains? It´s almost as I do not want to tell myself it is real, in case it isn´t...

Well, I´m not only going to watch, I am there to climb Island Peak, 6189m. A different type of climb, harder I presume, but oh so fantastic. I travel with Topas once again, and hope for a wonderful group of fellow climbers. In addition to climbing Island Peak, we are going to experience Nepal, and... to go very near the most beautiful mountain I´ve ever seen, or I haven´t seen it in real life yet, only on photos, youtube and movies... it´s Ama Dablam... this magnificent mountain is part of my big dream, and I hope and wish to sometime stand on top...

But, before I can even focus on Island peak, I have some other things to do...

The first thing is Nordsjørittet, a 90km cycling competition along the north sea coast. This will be my 5th time participating, and I hope I can finally beat my goal which is below 4 hours. It all comes down to the wind, and this stretch it known for not being nice to it´s visitors. I pray for southern wind, and cloudy skies with no rain :)

Next I´m going to Peru with my Dad and his wife to Machu Picchu, and the Inka trails. This will be a fantastic trip, and I promise you a thorough update when we come back :)

After that is a nightmare.. I´m doing a full marathon here in my home town; Stavanger. I am not sure what I feel about that... but somehow I signed up and now I am to proud, or strict to myself is maybe a better word?... to not do it. So I need to run run and run some more to be ready. I do not have goal, only to finish. It´s 30th August, so hopefully I´ll be ready :)

I hope you´ll stick with me to see how all of this are turning out :)

Thank you for following!

Wings For Life - World Run

The Catcher car

Today I participated in making history, I ran the world run "Wings for Life" which is a charity run for spinal cord research. 35397 people started in runs in 32 countries, all starting at the same time. The race did not have a fixed distance, or a finish line… well technically it was after 100km, but no one can run that long. So instead there was this Catcher car, starting 30min after the runners, with a speed of 15km/h, gradually increasing. This was the finish line; run as far as you can before the car catches you. After some time it caught up with the runners, and one by one we were caught. After just above 54 (!) km the last woman was taken, a young lady from Norway - congrats! The last man was beaten after 78km!! 78, that´s insane! I managed just above 19km and was happy with that. My goal was 23… so next year I´ll have to say 35km or something ;)


I am very proud to have participated in this run, especially since we together collected more than 3mill Euros! Imagine what that can do for research!

Next year I am certain this run will be even bigger, when the media knows more about it. Join you too! Sign up for information at: www.wingsforlifeworldrun.com/join :)